Best PlacesGautier, MS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gautier, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Gautier ranks 27,482nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Disaster risk pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on fast internet.
The best neighborhoods in Gautier
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Gautier's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gautier ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 90% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of towns
- BikingBetter than 81% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 78% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 74% of towns
Where Gautier ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 6% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 13% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gautier
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gautier home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,034, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Gautier's effective rate of 0.77%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Gautier
Gautier runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Gautier.
Who works in Gautier, and how
Work in Gautier centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Gautier
Gautier has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of towns. The coast is about 8 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Gautier and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gautier, month by month
Gautier sees roughly 99 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 52° | 42° |
| April | 79° | 67° | 57° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 75° |
| October | 84° | 70° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Gautier
The nearest airport, Gulfport-Biloxi International, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 100 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gautier
Schools across Gautier average a B, better than 70% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pecan Park Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Gautier Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Martin BluffC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ocean Springs Upper Elementary SchoA · 65% proficient
- Vancleave Middle SchoolA · 62% proficient
- Gautier Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Ocean Springs High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Vancleave High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Gautier High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gautier school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gautier measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Gautier against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gautier
Is Gautier a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gautier ranks 27,482nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, cell coverage, and biking, and lowest on disaster risk and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gautier expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $175,961. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $74,034 median income, cost of living beats 70% of towns.
Is Gautier safe?
Gautier is safer than 45% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $204 per resident a year.
Compare Gautier with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gautier. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gautier represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Gautier detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gautier: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gautier: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gautier: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gautier: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gautier detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.